 See even more photos at sayerrich.zenfolio.com/p222892496 Going into the bottom half of the seventh inning Tuesday, Titusville baseball coach Roy Schweitzer decided to risk the Rockets season with the his starting pitcher who was nearing 100 pitches in the game. Brett Schmidt had been brilliant only giving up one hit and only allowing one Oil City player to be in scoring position. But he had to be getting tired. The score was 0-0 with a half inning left in regulation. One bad pitch, one error and the season could be over with an Oiler walk off run.
See more photos at sayerrich.zenfolio.com/p222892496
For Staub and the Oilers, it was also a huge game for their program. The Oil played in their first playoff game in seven years and had a winning region record where they finished in fourth place just ahead of the Rockets. "I was proud to see this team make it to the playoffs this year.," Staub said. "Both the players and coaches bought in to bringing back success to our program, and it made my job a whole lot easier. Reaching the playoffs is a good first step for us, but it's definitely not our end goal. We'll continue to work with the current and incoming players to build a successful program."    On Monday, Titusville head coach Roy Schweitzer was frustrated. The Rockets were hitting their stride when they went on a three game losing streak headed toward the playoffs. They were about to take the field against Conneaut, a team in a similar place who also beat up on the Rockets earlier in the season.  They needed a win. "In the worst way," Schweitzer said. And in the fourth inning, down 2-0 they got that into their heads and made things happen. They got runners on base and Schweitzer was making the hit and run signal. Mason Titus even got an RBI on bunt that was bobbled on a fielders choice. Bloop hits were all of a sudden about two inches forth than the outstretched glove of the Eagles. Suddenly they were up 4-2 and hungry for more. Defensively they took it up a notch and even a long fly ball that seemed would score a run, was snuffed out with strong throws from the outfield and cutoff to home plate.  They added a couple more in the fish and another in the sixth. After a brief rain delay they held CASH back for the 7-4 senior night win. 
 The following day they took it to Corry with a huge five-inning 12-2 win. Mong, Stearns and Titus combined for eight hits and eight of the 12 runs. The Rocket's who began the week on a downward path are now riding a two-game win streak into the District 10 playoffs where they will face Oil City, who they have lost to in both outings this season. The game is expected to begin at 4:30 p.m. Tuesday at Allegheny College. 
  On his desk, a well worn 8.5 x 11 inch yellow legal pad has scratched on its first few pages the dates and times for football, soccer, volleyball, cross country and golf. “That’s my fall schedule,” said Scott Salvo before picking up the pad to clarify his statement. He flips passed the full pages to a blank one and says, “actually that is my fall schedule.” Salvo is retiring after over 30 years in high school athletics and teaching wood shop and computer aided drafting. Over the last eight years he has served as the Titusville Rocket’s athletic director. Facility improvements during his tenure highlight his accomplishments. He oversaw the revamping of historic Carter Field, converting the old grass, and sometimes muddy, field to a much more versatile turf giving the school and the whole community a vital community asset that is used much more than a few Friday nights a year. Salvo had served as the Rocket’s head football coach for eight years as well as coaching track. When he took over as AD for Jim Come he stopped coaching. “I just thought that my focus needed to be on 17 sports as opposed to just one, because there is always something going on." The Union High School alum said the AD position has been both challenging and rewarding. Helping kids make the right decisions has been a priority and admits it is hard when he has to deal with situations where kids didn’t make the right ones. “I’ve made a lot of friends…but unfortunately with some of the decisions I’ve had to make, I’ve lost a few friends too,” he said quoting famed college and pro coach Nick Saban, “If you’re into leadership, don’t try to make everybody happy,” adding his own words at the end… “if you want to make everybody happy, go sell ice cream.” He said the decisions of an athletic director are sometimes difficult and not everyone agrees with, but they are made with the good of the Titusville Rockets in mind. “It comes with the territory,” he said. “One thing with being an athletic director is you never know what you’re going to be doing next. People say ‘oh that jobs a piece of cake, all you do is go to games and watch them,’ but there is a little bit more behind the scenes.” Salvo says he’s loved the job, but also acknowledges the difficulty of the often 11-12 hour days that are required. . "I’m looking forward to being home more." Salvo isn’t getting out the rocking chair or binge watching any of the television shows he’s missed over the last 32 years, he has accepted a job in sales dealing with sport equipment for DeMans Team Sports out of Brookville. He will be working with area schools and will also still be helping out with playoffs with the PIAA and District 10. “It keeps me involved with athletics.” Taking over for Salvo will be long-time boys basketball coach and General McLane alum Craig Mehlenbacher. He’ll have the summer to acclimate and get ready for the fall, in fact he has been already working afternoons with Salvo since February when he was chosen as the replacement. “I have some big shoes to fill,” Mehlenbacher said. He was middle school athletic director in Florida and found out he liked that aspect of school athletics. The health and Phys. Ed. teacher for the last 12 years at Titusville says he plans to continue coaching boys basketball for now, but knows his duties as AD will be a priority. He has been spending his afternoons since February working closely with Salvo to get ready to take over in June. “It’s going to be a challenge, but I think we have a good support system here” Mehlenbacher said. “Scott has done a tremendous job… a lot of it is probably going to stay the same at least at first.” He hopes to be in the job for a number of years and make the job his own as well, but credits Salvo’s work setting up a good situation for him to take over. He’ll be stepping away from his teaching job to concentrate on the position. “Luckily, being a coach here I know all the coaches. I think that would be the hardest thing to step into a school where you didn’t know everybody. I think that will be a benefit for me. It’s going to be exciting, it’s going to be rejuvenating for me… I think it’s a perfect time for me to switch gears a little bit and get into something new and exciting,” he said. “I’m ready for it and I’m excited to take it on. It’s an honor for me.” A 10-0 and 0-10 teams are great memories for Salvo Salvo looks back at his 32 years in high school athletics.
Being a football coach, he said was different than his last eight years as athletic director. "With football it was 365 days a year of football and nothing but football. As AD he has learned a lot about all the sports that make up a school's athletic community. “I don’t think I ever went to a wrestling match before, or swim meets, they were things that I was never exposed to before… this has exposed me to all different aspects of athletics,” he said. “Not only just the sports themselves, but the different coaching styles (that they bring to the needs) for the particular sport. There isn’t a mold everybody comes out of to become a coach.” He credits both ends of the spectrum with his favorite memories as a coach. “From a coaching stand point (my highlight has to be) our 2006-7 football season. We went undefeated in the regular season. That group of kids… I was just thinking about that team this morning and I can name every starter on that team.” That team was special for what it accomplished with W’s, but Salvo is quick to name his second favorite memory as a tem that didn’t win a single game. “That was a group of kids that just worked so hard for me. I was crazy that they could just get the crap beat out of them on Friday night and the next Monday they were there asking ‘what do we need to do?’ And they knew damn well they were going to get the (butt) kicked again the next Friday, but it didn’t matter. That was a pretty special group of kids too, from a coaching aspect.” He leaves feeling like things are looking up for the Brown and Gold. “From an athletic stand point I think we’re in a really good place right now. With where we’re at with coaches and the support we get from administration and these athletes that we’ve got here… we’re in a good place.” Salvo looks at the job as making it easier for the student athlete to succeed. “From an athletic director standpoint just seeing a team take the field and knowing you had a part in that… you maybe didn’t teach them any X’s and O’s but you helped them in some way to get to where they are at. That’s pretty cool. Most days have been better than others,” he said.  From press release
The Oil Region Alliance celebrates May as National Historic Preservation Month by honoring projects and people preserving the character and history of our area annually with the Historic Preservation Awards. The public is invited to enjoy this free event, which includes refreshments and the awards ceremony where entities will be recognized for their recent great work in preserving Oil Region history. The Winners are:
RSVPs are appreciated. Please contact Jessica at [email protected] or 814.677.3152. |
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November 2024
CategoriesAuthorEight & 27 focuses on stories centered around Titusville, PA. With the sad end of The Titusville Herald, we're hoping to pick up the slack. |
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